Chair, Co-Director of the Data Science Institute

Department of Computing & Data Science Institute

London: salary commensurate with the seniority of the role

The Department of Computing and the Data Science Institute (DSI) at Imperial College London are seeking to appoint a Chair (Professor) in a relevant area within the Department of Computing who will also serve as Co-Director of the Data Science Institute.  

The Data Science Institute was formed in April 2014 under the leadership of Professor Yi-Ke Guo. It is a cross-College Institute with the remit of co-ordinating and progressing multi-disciplinary data-driven and artificial intelligence research at Imperial College. Professor Guo is stepping down from his founding role and so we are looking for an outstanding individual to lead the next stage of the DSI’s development. The successful candidate will be involved in selecting the other Institute co-director and in re-shaping the DSI to respond to new opportunities in areas such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning and Data Science. The objectives of the Institute are: 

• To act as a focal point for coordinating data-driven and artificial intelligence scientific research at Imperial through stimulating cross-disciplinary collaboration.
• To train and educate the new generation of data and AI scientists.
• To enable the translation of data science and AI innovation by close collaboration with partners including industry and the public sector and supporting commercialisation.
• To promote data science and AI and its applications to the general public and to the general public and to influence policy makers.

The Data Science Institute is one of the six Global Institutes of Imperial College London, created to bring together researchers from around the College, with funders and users from industry and government. Together they undertake joint research that is at the forefront of AI, Machine Learning and Data Science and their applications.  

Strong collaborations are at the centre of the Data Science Institute's development and it hosts a Data Observatory, a state-of-the-art data visualisation and decision-making studio comprising over 170 million-pixel display environment with 64 screens supported by an impressive data-processing capacity.  

This is an exciting opportunity for a talented and ambitious research leader to play a pivotal role in the continuing development and success of the Data Science Institute at Imperial College London. The appointee will be an internationally recognised researcher with expertise and visibility in the field of AI, Machine Learning or Data Science. In addition to building an innovative programme of original research, the appointee will provide leadership and direction, to the Data Science Institute as one of two Co-Directors (at 50% of working time). The Co-Director will also work closely with the Enterprise Division and Advancement to secure funding for the Data Science Institute from industrial and/or philanthropic sources. This is a strategic initiative for the College and requires leadership to bring together the College academic community in this field and identifying and pursuing funding opportunities.  

Should you wish to discuss the post informally, please contact: Professor Nick Jennings, Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) on vpr@imperial.ac.uk +44 207594 8458, or
Professor Daniel Rueckert, Head of the Department of Computing on d.rueckert@imperial.ac.uk  +44 207594 8333.
For informal enquiries about the role please contact Sukhpal Uppal at Sukhpal.Uppal@perrettlaver.com or on +44 (0)207 340 7352. 

Applications can be uploaded at https://candidates.perrettlaver.com/vacancies/  using reference number 4376.

Closing date: 11th November 2019

Imperial College is committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment. We are an Athena SWAN Silver award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Disability Confident Leader and work in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people.  

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/  

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level. 
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research/